In May, we passed a pivotal milestone for the 3D printing industry. The arrival of the HP Jet Fusion 3D Printing Solution, the world’s first production-ready 3D printing system, marks the beginning of an exciting new era.

The Launch

RAPID 2016, which brought together 3D manufacturing leaders, innovators, and journalists from around the

world, was a perfect opportunity for this important launch. The morning of May 17th, Stephen Nigro shared the news in his keynote speech, explaining where we’ve been, what we’re bringing to the market, and what we envision for the future. He stressed HP’s commitment to providing an open platform for innovation, as a critical path to changing how the world designs and manufactures parts. Along with the announcement, we shared additional details online and began taking orders (contact us here to learn more).

Following the keynote, Ramon Pastor, Vice President and General Manager, HP 3D Printing, joined Stephen Nigro in the HP booth theatre to share additional details about the new solution and the road ahead.

HP 3D Printing’s Head of Marketing & Go To Market Alex Moñino led a tour of the booth, including demonstrations of the printer and processing station, as well as a look at example parts and applications. Guests returned to the theatre, where Sascha de Peña, one of Multi-Jet Fusion’s inventors, discussed the power of voxel-level control and its potential for future applications.

Next, Scott Schiller, Worldwide Business Director for HP 3D Printing, talked about involving customers and partners in the product development process. A panel of partners — Kara Noack of BASF, John Dulchinos of JABIL, and Andreas Saar of Siemens joined Scott to discuss their partnerships and the road ahead. Finally, Stephen Nigro took questions from the audience and Periscope viewers.

Afterward, the HP booth opened to all RAPID attendees. Throughout the event, we hosted HP Multi Jet Fusion educational sessions in our booth theatre, and our HP 3D Printing team was on hand to show our visitors the printing technology, processing system, and software in action.

The Reaction

We’ve been thrilled with the positive response to the launch, both from journalists and 3D printing industry leaders.

“Although we’ve seen some pretty incredible 3D printing technologies and applications since October of 2014, few have been able to scrape the surface of what HP has been able to achieve for rapidly moving thoughts into superior physical objects at a low cost. As more users turn to industrial 3D printing services rather than dealing with the headache of owning desktop machines, it’s difficult to argue that MJF — and fast turnaround part orders — is the 3D printing and low production part run process of the future.”

"Breaking the mold (pun intended) and taking us away from a homogeneous workplace, the HP MJF system certainly sounds promising. And, yes, it looks incredible — watching it in action and holding printed pieces was quite an experience."

“HP’s Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) technology is a significant development for the 3D printing market. Unlike existing powder bed fusion printers, which use a laser or electron beam in an inert environment to sinter the powders, MJF uses fusing and detailing fluids that, when exposed to energy from an infrared lamp, fuse the powder into a solid. MJF leverages HP’s 30 years of thermal inkjet research and development and manufacturing.”

"HP’s entrance into the market may be potentially the most disruptive event in manufacturing since the invention of 3D printing. MJF provides the clearest indication yet that this new digital way of making things is actually going to happen and that it is going to be big."

The Road Ahead

HP’s vision is to ignite the next industrial revolution by moving 3D printing beyond short-run manufacturing and prototyping to a full scale, production-ready technology.

The HP Jet Fusion 3D Printing Solution sets the stage for future platforms that could transform color, texture, and mechanical properties at the voxel level. This level of control could create 3D printed objects with conductivity, flexibility, embedded data, and translucency — and that’s just the beginning. The possible combinations and potential applications are limitless.

We believe an open platform is key to realizing this potential. Our open platform for materials will inspire invention and foster collaboration, while driving down costs.

We’re proud to be a founding member of the 3MF industry consortium, dedicated to the development of 3MF, an improved 3D printing file format. The HP Jet Fusion 3D Printing Solution is the first 3D printer to be fully compliant with this industry-leading standard. With HP SmartStream 3D Build Manager software, it’s simple to import .stl and other formats as well. We’re creating a 3D materials app store and working closely with partners to move forward, and we will continue to expand the open platform ecosystem over time.

Getting Started

We are taking orders now for delivery in late 2016 for the HP Jet Fusion 3D 4200 Printer and in 2017 for the HP Jet Fusion 3D 3200 Printer. Initially, the new solutions will be sold in the United States, Canada, Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland. Availability will be expanded to include additional European and Asian countries in the second half of 2017.